1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to systems and methods for providing a video enhancement to computer programs to benefit the hearing impaired.
2. Description of Related Art
With the advent of computing and web surfing, the fundamental way of existence today requires basic knowledge and use of a computer. With the increase in use of computers and a computer""s services, the complexities of computer programs have also increased. Thus, even the most experienced users must occasionally resort to using the Help Menu of a program to find answers to computing problems or information regarding a computer program in use.
For most users, the format of current help menus is sufficient for use and navigation. However, it is sometimes difficult to read a help menu task on a display device while attempting to simultaneously navigate through the instructed tasks. As an added feature to many Help Menu programs, xe2x80x9cvoicedxe2x80x9d instructions are provided that allow a user to navigate through tasks without having to visually concentrate on the help menu display. However, in the United States alone more than 28 million people have hearing impairments. Thus, a system using such a method would have no advantage for a hearing impaired user. Admittedly, there has been little technological advancement related to the improvement of computer programs and help menus to assist the hearing impaired.
Most approaches for advancement for the hearing-impaired have been simply to provide a translator-type device that converts input information into a media that can be understood by a hearing impaired user. However, much of the world has not taken the hearing impaired into consideration when initially creating user services, such as computer programs and help menus.
As outlined above, conventional computer programs and help menus are not robust and adaptable to the hearing impaired and are limited in their user friendliness to a hearing impaired user. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a user-friendly computing environment for the hearing-impaired by supplying a program or help menu xe2x80x9cpatchxe2x80x9d that provides signed instructions or responses to queries in a help menu or program.
This invention provides systems and methods for converting existing text information into hearing-impaired friendly information.
This invention provides systems and methods that modify existing programs and embed hearing-impaired friendly information into existing programs and help menus.
This invention additionally provides systems and methods for providing computer programs with hearing-impaired friendly information.
This invention further provides systems and methods for searching for and providing hearing-impaired friendly information to a hearing-impaired user via a database device in response to a user query.
This invention separately provides systems and methods for extracting embedded information from a computer program for display to a user.
In various exemplary embodiments according to this invention, hearing-impaired friendly information is embedded into an existing computer program. The existing computer program can be any existing computer program that is capable of being displayed on a display device. The hearing-impaired friendly information can be any animation, sign language, phrase and finger spelled words that is adaptable to what is being displayed.
In various exemplary embodiments, the embedded hearing-impaired friendly information is extracted from a database of stored information. The stored information can be any type of digital or analog recorded movies in which videos of a person signing words, phrases or finger spelled words and of animations corresponding to the words.
In various exemplary embodiments, before the stored information is embedded, the text contained in a computer program is converted to a hearing-impaired friendly format and stored in a database. A user can then extract the stored information for viewing.
In various exemplary embodiments, a user can query a computer program containing the embedded information. In response to the query, the systems and methods described herein can retrieve and display the appropriate information for display to the user.
In various exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods according to this invention, for the most part, the stored information will be stored in a digital or analog movie format so that the information can be easily embedded into the subject computer program.
These and other features and advantages of this invention are described in or apparent from the following detailed description of the apparatus/systems and methods according to this invention.